Everything is in ruin, the entire town in flames. People are being massacred by monsters everywhere. It's happening, and the people's fears came true.

"Grrr!" A creature growls.

"We're almost there." A man says as he is running with two people and a kid.

The kid stumbles upon something and falls, as he looks back he sees that he fell over a corpse. One of the men quickly gets to the kid and grabs him and starts running.

"Come on, let's make haste." The other man says.

They then run into a narrow path as a shortcut.

"Yukida!" Another man says.

"What is it, Asano?" Yukida says as he unsheathes his sword.

"This is going to be troublesome." Asano says as he takes a fighting stance.

A monster with a sword had intercepted their path and blocked it.

"There's no way, a Golem!?" Yukida says in shock.

"Calm down, look at it. It's about human height, not as big as an actual golem. Looks like this is just a mini golem. This still isn't good though, these things have incredibly high defense just like their bigger counterparts." Asano says.

"Just when I thought our luck couldn't get any damn worse!" Yukida thinks.

"Ebichi! Take the kid and run the other way!" Asano says in a panic.

"Alright!" Ebichi says as he holds the kid's hand.

Just as he turns around was about to run, two more Mini Golems had appeared and blocked the path.

"Agh man, we're sandwiched in." Ebichi says.

"Well, looks like we'll just have to hold our ground and bust through them this time! No running!" Yukida says as he straightens his sword to attack.

Ebichi then looks at Asano.

"You heard the boss." Asano says as he smiles.

"Get behind us." Ebichi says to the kid.

Three of them give out a battle cry and Jump to attack the monsters. Yukida, Asano, and Ebichi each take on one golem while protecting the kid who stays in the middle of them.

"Alright, you stone bastard. Let's see what you got." Yukida says as attacks.

However, It had no effect his sword just bounced back. The Golem then swings to attack, Yukida swiftly deflects it but he's still knocked back a bit because of the sheer force behind the golem's swing.

"The hell man!?" Yukida says as he's knocked back.

"Focus dude, Don't forget their weaknesses. Their defenses may be good but a powerful enough pierce attack imbued with reinforcement magic can shatter the armor. Go for the head or its heart for an instant kill. They have gaps in their armor so you can attack there to disarm them or make them immobile." Asano explains.

"Yeah but it's not like we specialize in that kinda supportive magic ya know?" Yukida says.

"That's fine, we don't need it against these mini ones." Asano says.

Meanwhile, Ebichi who is already armed with this knowledge tries to go for a quick finishing blow to the Golem's heart.

"Haaaa! Take this!!!" Ebichi screams.

However, the Golems are much more agile than they look. So to everyone's surprise, it dodges Ebichi's attack and clenches its left hand into a fist to attack, Ebichi couldn't react in time to dodge so he gets knocked to the ground with incredible force which made him drop his dagger.

"AH!" Ebichi screams in pain as he coughs out blood.

The Golem then stabs Ebichi's left arm with its sword and Yukida sees the Golem tear off Ebichi's arm making him scream in miserable pain.

"Ebichi, No!!" Yukida screams in terror with his hand out.

As Yukida screams a strange aura starts surrounding him, focusing around the palm of his hand, he shoots out the power and manages to blast away the golem he was fighting. He then runs and then jumps and cuts off the arm of the golem that tore Ebichi's arm from the gap in the armor near its shoulders, the Golem roars in pain while holding its right shoulder.

"Hey, you alright?" Yukida asks.

"I'll manage." Ebichi says.

"Here, take my hand." Yukida says.

"Hey! Look out, behind you!!" Ebichi says in a chilling panic.

The instant he said that Yukida is stabbed through the back by the Golem he was supposed to be fighting. The Golem then picks Yukida up with his sword and tosses him to the side, making him crash into a wall.

"Yukidaa!!!" Ebichi screams.

He then picks up his dagger and started attacking the golem, as Ebichi was already injured the attacks weren't as effective, the golem dodged all the swings with ease as if it was playing with him.

"Don't worry, I won't be the one finishing you off-" Ebichi says with a smile.

Just then Ebichi ducks and Asano runs up on Ebichi's back as a ramp to jump off and attacks the Golem with a flurry of quick punches, the Golem still dodges with its quick instincts and movements.

"How in the world is this thing so fast!?" Asano says as he's punching.

The Golem then swings with its left arm and tries to land a fatal blow on Asano, he perfectly blocks it but was knocked back by its power. Just as he did Ebichi runs at full speed with his dagger and before the Golem could turn toward Ebichi, he thrusts it right into the Golem's heart, killing it and dropping it on its back. Asano then runs to Ebichi.

"Ebichi! Are you alright? We can rest for a while." Asano says.

"No! We can't stop yet. It's not safe." Ebichi says as he coughs out blood and struggles to stand up.

Ebichi then looks toward Yukida who is somehow still alive.

"Yukida! Damn, that looks really bad." Ebichi says as he looks at Yukida's wound

"Yeah, thanks Mr.Obvious, but fortunately looks like it missed all my vital organs though. What about you? You're left side seems pretty messed up." Yukida says in pain.

"Hurts like hell actually but there's no time to do anything about it. Asano, quickly try to patch up Yukida." Ebichi says.

Asano then tends to Yukida's wound and manages to reduce the bleeding but not completely stop it.

"We must keep going, other golems are probably on their way by now. We should hurry and not waste any more time." Ebichi says.

Asano then gives support to Yukida with his body and Ebichi holds the kid's hand and they all walk away but not without leaving a trail of blood behind. After walking for some time Ebichi spots something in the distance.

"Hey look, there's the cave. Let's rest there for a bit." Ebichi says.

They soon arrive at the cave, Asano helped Yukida sit down, then sat next to him, while Ebichi sat down next to the kid.

"Alright, we're pretty much there. After we cross this cave to the other side, it should be a straight path to the refugee camp." Ebichi says.

"Sounds good." Asano says.

Yukida then looks at the kid and his terrified expression.

"So what's your name young man?" Yukida says as he coughs.

"K-K- Kaen." the kid says hesitantly.

"Hey, Kaen, how you holdin' up? I know you must be completely petrified from fear right now but...that's alright, anyone in your position would be, but goes without saying that you've actually been pretty brave throughout everything, you know that? Take it from a guy who's been in enough near-death situations to scar someone for nine lives." Yukida says.

"Y-you think so? I-I think I've been m-mostly a coward." Kaen says.

"Don't say that! You weren't a coward in any way at all, it's natural to be scared. Heck even all of us get pretty scared from time to time but you know what? We fight through it, showing fear means showing weakness, and in these kinds of situations, that can be very bad and you don't want that. I'm not saying fear and weakness are entirely bad, that's just part of being human. However, having a face that shows no fear, gives people hope and when people have hope, it's truly an amazing thing. You'll see one day, it's not always easy but it sure as hell worth it." Yukida says as he pats the kid on his head.

The kid's fear seemed to fade away for the most part and he had a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

Then suddenly they feel the ground above them shake violently.

"What the hell was that!? Asano asks in a panic.

"Did they find us already?" Yukida says.

"Seems like it, damn these monsters don't let up!" Ebichi says.

"What are we gonna do? We can't outrun them with you guys injured like this." Asano says.

"Maybe...we don't have to." Yukida says lightly.

"Say what now?" Asano asks.

"Maybe we don't have to outrun them." Yukida says again clearly.

"What? What do you mean?" Asano asks again.

Ebichi understood almost instantly and before Yukida could answer.

"We'll hold them off, you take the kid and run." Ebichi says.

"The hell!? I'm not about to just leave you guys!" Asano says.

"Our injuries are way too severe. Even if we make it out of here, the monsters will catch up in no time. You should leave us here and run." Yukida says.

"Damn it all! I wish I could...do something!" Asano says with frustration.

"Don't burden yourself with it, I doubt there's anything anyone could've done." Yukida says.

"Any minute now guys, they're about to bust down here!" Ebichi says.

Asano then takes the kid's hand and turns around.

"You take care of yourself Asano, and promise me you'll get that kid to the refugee camp no matter what." Yukida says.

"I will, no matter what." Asano says as he runs to cross the cave.

As he's running away he can hear Yukida and Ebichi screaming and struggling to keep the monsters at bay.

Meanwhile, at the refugee camp, a worried mother can't find her child anywhere. She looks around tirelessly hoping her child is okay then sees an adventurer.

"Hey hey, have you seen my son?" The woman asks.

"Listen ma'am I'm gonna need you to go back in your tent." The adventurer says.

"Please, you have to answer me! He should stand out, he has unusual blue hair and light blue eyes. Please, sir!" The woman asks in desperation.

"Listen, ma'am! Do you really think you are the only one who has come to ask about their child?! Look around you, almost everyone has lost someone they love. You aren't the only one suffering here. All you can do now is hope that your child is safe. So please, get back to your tent." The adventurer says.

The crying woman then starts to walk away.

"I-I'll let you know if I spot him." The adventurer says with an empathetic look.

"Thank you so much." The woman says as she turns around.

"Hey, Zakane!" Another adventurer calls out.

"Yeah, what?" Zakane asks.

"There seems to be someone at the gate with a child!" The adventurer says.

Zakane then looks back at the crying woman, then turns to the other adventurer.

"Who is the guy?!" Zakane hurridly asks.

"He seems to be a rescuer, I remember three of them being sent out to look for survivors. Seems only one survived and he's in pretty bad shape too. I'm surprised he's even still alive." The adventurer explains.

"Well then let him in already!" Zakane shouts.

Asano and the kid are then let in and the crying woman sees the kid.

"Kaen!!" The crying woman runs to him and hugs him.

"Did you save him? Thank you so much, I can't even begin to describe how grateful I am. He's the only family I have left." The woman says to Asano.

"So you're his mother? I'm so glad, the kid's got a hopeful future ahead of him then. Just promise me one thing, please tell me you'll raise him right? A lot has been sacrificed to protect him and honestly, I've kind of grown fond of that little one." Asano says as he passes out.

"I promise, I will. Thank you very much." Kaen's mother says.

"Take the rescuer to the medical tent! Immediately!!" Zakane orders in urgency.

Asano is then taken to the medical tent and starts getting treated. However, his injuries would prove to be too far gone. After a few hours, Asano was pronounced dead.

End Of Chapter